Chapter 4: Deal with the Youngest Son First

She glanced at her youngest grandson, Zhao Guang, signaling him to quickly grab the chicken drumstick.

Zhao Guang caught his grandmother’s hint and smiled knowingly. He stood up, stretched out his arm, and snatched the last chicken drumstick into his bowl.

Liu Dani’s face creased into a smile full of wrinkles. That chicken was specially prepared by her to nourish her grandchildren.

How could that little girl have the right to eat the chicken drumstick?

If she hadn’t just been scolded by Zhang Xiulian that afternoon, she would have snatched the drumstick back at all costs.

Zhang Xiulian had intended to put the remaining chicken drumstick into her own bowl, but unexpectedly, her youngest son Zhao Guang beat her to it.

She glanced at Zhao Guang, her brows involuntarily furrowing into a tight knot.

Zhao Guang was only nine years old, about 1.3 meters tall, but already weighed 120 jin (about 60 kg).

His twin sister Zhao Pingping was much shorter, and weighed less than 70 jin (about 35 kg).

The biggest reason for this was naturally Liu Dani’s favoritism.

All the good food was for him, and snacks locked in the cupboard were often fed to him secretly.

No wonder he was so fat.

But Zhang Xiulian had been at fault in her past life too—she often used the excuse that girls eat less to give the portion meant for her youngest daughter to her son Zhao Guang, causing her daughter to become weaker and weaker.

By adulthood, the daughter was under 1.5 meters tall and, due to malnutrition, her reproductive system was underdeveloped—she ended up unable to marry.

Slap!

Zhang Xiulian slammed down her chopsticks, stood up straight, and strode quickly over to Zhao Guang.

She grabbed the chicken drumstick and stuffed it into her mouth. In just a few bites, it was gone clean.

Wiping her mouth, she returned to her seat and continued eating.

While eating, she scooped some chicken into her eldest daughter’s bowl.

“Lili, eat more. You’re too skinny. When you get married, don’t let people think you were mistreated at home!”

Zhao Debao, sitting nearby, opened his mouth to say something, but a dull pain in his lower body stopped him. He just opened his mouth, then swallowed the words back.

Waaaah!

Zhao Guang, stunned that his chicken drumstick was eaten by his mother Zhang Xiulian, stood frozen for a moment, then covered his eyes and cried loudly.

He couldn’t understand why the mother who had always spoiled him had suddenly changed.

Zhao Pingping glanced at her grandmother and then at her brother. Carefully, she picked up a chicken drumstick from her own bowl and tried to put it in her brother’s bowl.

Since childhood, she had been good at reading the situation and didn’t want to make things hard for her mother.

But just as she reached out, Zhang Xiulian slapped her hand down, and the drumstick fell back into Pingping’s bowl.

“Pingping, eat your own food. Don’t bother with your brother. Look how fat he is, he can barely squat down.

He needs to lose weight; you need to gain weight. Come on, eat up.”

Liu Dani glared at Zhang Xiulian angrily.

“You’re so foolish! What use is it to feel sorry for a girl? She’ll belong to someone else one day. When you’re old, it’s your sons and grandsons who’ll care for you.”

Heh heh—

Zhang Xiulian sneered without lifting her eyelids.

If this had been her last life, she would have believed these words wholeheartedly.

But now, she didn’t believe a single punctuation mark of it.

In her previous life, she had diligently taken care of three sons and two grandsons—but in the end, she had literally died from constipation.

She had died so miserably!

Her two grandsons ignored her, her three sons didn’t even bat an eye.

Even after death, it was a stranger who kindly helped with her funeral.

The Liu Dani from her past life had been tended to in her final moments only by Zhang Xiulian, her daughter-in-law.

Her “good” sons and grandsons had held their noses and stayed far away.

They neither cared when she was alive nor buried her when she died. What use were such children?

What are you laughing at?

How can I not laugh after hearing such a good joke? If you don’t like my laughter, you can listen to your grandson, listen to him cry, you can tell how invested he is,” Zhang Xiulian said slowly, sipping her chicken soup.

Liu Dani, already stressed by her little grandson Zhao Guang’s loud crying causing her temples to throb, felt like a heavy stone was pressing on her chest after Zhang Xiulian snapped at her, making it hard to breathe.

Zhao Debao noticed his mother’s worsening expression, quickly put down his chopsticks, and walked over. As he helped her ease her breathing with his hands, he scolded the still-crying Zhao Guang, “Mom, please don’t get angry anymore.”

“Cry, cry, cry—if you keep crying, I’ll sew your mouth shut! No food for you, get out!”

Zhao Lili quickly finished her food, stood up, grabbed Zhao Guang’s hand, and took him outside.

Meanwhile, Zhao Pingping had finished the chicken leg and rice in her bowl and obediently started clearing the table.

She skillfully gathered the bowls and chopsticks, poured the leftovers onto a plate, and carried it toward the water basin in the yard.

Zhang Xiulian suddenly grabbed her daughter’s hand, took away the bowls and chopsticks, and smiled, “Good girl. You go sweep the floor, then do your homework. I’ll handle the rest of the chores.”

Zhao Pingping’s mouth opened wide in surprise. After a long pause, she said, “Mom really seems to be caring for me more and more.”

Mother and daughter walked out of the kitchen together, one after the other.

No one paid any attention to Liu Dani or Zhao Debao.

After washing the dishes, Zhang Xiulian wiped her hands, untied her apron, and walked toward her eldest daughter Zhao Lili’s room.

The Zhao family’s courtyard was a classic northern rural farmhouse.

The main hall had three big rooms: the middle one was the living room, with two rooms on each side.

Zhang Xiulian and Zhao Debao slept in the west room.

The east room was divided into two: the one by the window was for Liu Dani and Zhao Guang; the other was for eldest son Zhao Wen and second son Zhao Ming.

The eldest and youngest daughters lived in the side rooms on the west side of the courtyard, directly across from the kitchen.

Knock knock knock

Zhang Xiulian knocked on the door.

Zhao Lili, lying on the bed resting, was surprised to hear someone knock.

In this family, no one seemed to have the habit of knocking before entering their rooms.

They just barged in without regard for a girl’s privacy.

She had told them many times before, but no one listened.

“Who could be knocking?”

Zhao Lili wondered as she opened the door, seeing her mother Zhang Xiulian standing there.

She was delighted, “Mom, what are you doing here?”

Her daughter’s words filled Zhang Xiulian with guilt.

Living under the same roof, as a mother she had rarely entered her daughter’s room.

She truly didn’t know what she had been busy with in her past life.

Maybe tutoring the youngest son with homework?

Or busy washing clothes for the second and third sons?

Whatever it was, she had never set aside any time for her eldest daughter.

Zhang Xiulian brushed some stray hair off her forehead and softly said, “Mom wants to talk to you about your marriage.”

Mom isn’t going to change her mind and still want to marry me off to the village chief’s son, is she?

Zhao Lili’s heart skipped a beat.

Her face instantly went pale, and she forced down her anxiety as she welcomed her mother inside.

Zhang Xiulian had just sat down on the bed when Zhao Lili suddenly knelt before her.

“Mom, I beg you, please don’t make me marry the village chief’s son. I don’t like him.

Right now Wang Qiang doesn’t have the bride price, but we can both go out to work and we will definitely save enough money for my brother’s bride price.”

Zhao Lili’s cheeks were hollow, with dark bruises under her eyes, and her almond-shaped eyes were filled with tears.

Zhang Xiulian looked at her worn-out daughter and felt a heartache that made it hard to breathe.

This foolish child had been worrying and fearing over her marriage for so long.

And in her past life, she hadn’t worried about it one bit.